Category Archives: body

We highly recommend that you watch this critically acclaimed documentary film, especially if you are considering whether you should get your child (or yourself) circumcised. If you were circumcised as an infant, you’ll certainly find it pretty interesting as well.

85% of the world’s population is NOT circumcised. Besides Israel, the US is the only country where circumcision is routinely performed on male infants, even if they do not belong to a religious community that considers it an essential ritual.

In this is a video follow-up to my previous post “William Broad is at it again at the NY Times,” you can hear me tell Mr. Broad that every time he opens his mouth, he loses another piece of whatever credibility he may have had as an authority on Yoga.

In the end, I just tell him to shut his mouth until such time as he’s willing to do a modicum of valid research into the actual history of Yoga practice – which did NOT begin with the Tantric sex cults of Medieval India. He actually contradicts himself in the space of two sentences in his interview with Stephen Colbert, when he first asserts that Yoga is 4 to 5 thousand years old, then follows up with “…real yoga started out in a sex cult..”

Someone with as big a platform as William J. Broad has an equally big responsibility to speak accurately about this subject. In this, he has repeatedly and utterly failed.

MYSORE MAGIC: Yoga at the Source
Summary: Magic happens at the source of Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore, India. Thousands from across the planet journey here to deepen their practice. Hear what they say, and enjoy an insider’s view into the Mysore experience.

‘ASHTANGA YOGA: Stories from Beyond the Mat’ IS OUT NOW

It’s a collection of stories, essays, sketches, how-tos, and comedy bit-lets, all written during the last 10 years, and all relating to the practice of Ashtanga Yoga.

It’s one of the first of its kind in the Ashtanga community: no asana photos or “Intro to Yoga Philosophy 101,” just writings about Yoga filled with reverence, humor, and the occasional artfully employed f-bomb.

(Also, perhaps the occasional gratuitously employed f-bomb.)

The practice of this Yoga has profoundly changed my life — I hope I shared a glimmer of that in the pages of this book.

QUICK UPDATE:
1. International Amazon
Unfortunately, at the moment I’m unable to list it on Amazon’s international sites. This means it’s still available to those outside the U.S., though you have to pay shipping.

HOWEVER: I have just found that Amazon UK does print-on-demand, and so I’m gonna get this ball rolling.

Please note: I am not changing any “whiles” to “whilsts” for my UK audience, though maybe I can work in “havin’ a slash” or “dogs bollocks” somehow.

2. Kindle, eBook, Versions
There will definitely be one. But not until March.

ASHTANGA YOGA: Stories from Beyond the Mat is not your typical “Yoga” book. Jason Stein skips the posture photos and Intro to Yoga Philosophy to explore personal topics in this frank, revealing, and often funny collection. The essays, sketches, notes, and how-tos contained here all address with reverence and humor the many ways a daily Ashtanga Yoga practice saturates life both on and off the mat. All content newly revised and rewritten, including: “White Elephant Versus Termite Practice” “How to Start a Mysore Program” “Ashtanga Yoga and Crossfit” “What First Series Taught Me” “The Agonies of Yoga Photos” “6-Pack Abs with Ashtanga!”